Otto Richard Skopil Jr. | |
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Skopil in 2007
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Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | |
In office September 26, 1979 – June 30, 1986 |
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Nominated by | Jimmy Carter |
Preceded by | Seat established |
Succeeded by | Edward Leavy |
Judge of the District Court for the District of Oregon | |
In office June 2, 1972 – September 26, 1979 |
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Nominated by | Richard Nixon |
Preceded by | Alfred Goodwin |
Succeeded by | Owen Panner |
Personal details | |
Born |
Otto Richard Skopil Jr. June 3, 1919 Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
Died | October 18, 2012 Portland, Oregon |
(aged 93)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Jan Skopil |
Alma mater | Willamette University |
Otto Richard Skopil Jr. (June 3, 1919 - October 18, 2012), was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. The native Oregonian actively served on the court from 1979 to 1986. Previously, Skopil served on the federal district court in Oregon from 1972 to 1979, and was the chief judge of that court from 1976 to 1979. Of German ancestry, he was a veteran of World War II and received both his undergraduate education and law degree from Willamette University.
Skopil was born in Portland, Oregon, on June 3, 1919. His parents, Otto Richard Skopil and Freda Martha Boetticher were working-class German immigrants who lived in the Salem, Oregon, area. Around age one, the family returned to Salem where Otto Jr. was raised.
In high school at Salem High School, Otto played basketball and earned a full-ride scholarship to Willamette University in Salem. At Willamette he served as class president his freshman year. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1941. Otto then dropped out of law school after two years to enlist in the United States Navy along with two classmates. He served during World War II as a Lieutenant in the Navy. He was in that service’s supply division from 1942 to 1946. Otto returned to school in 1945, and in 1946 he graduated from Willamette University College of Law with an LL.B. degree and entered private legal practice in Salem where he remained until 1972. The school created a special class to allow him and other veterans to start mid-term and resume where they had left off before the war. While in private practice in 1967 he represented State Farm Insurance in a case that reached the United States Supreme Court.